Power-driven lead truck



A. A. THHELE IOWER DRIVEN LEAD TRUCK 1 Aug. 21, 1923.

Filed March 10 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 'f/VE/T/TUR ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

A. A. THIELE POWER DRIVEN LEAD TRUCK Filed March 10 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 EMHM wihl -mhu lh,

ATTORNEYS Maw A Patented Aug. 21, 1.923.

cairn 'rarfs east ricer A DOLPH ARTHUR THIELE, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN SMELTING AND REFINING COMPANY, OF NEW? YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

.Power-Driren Lead Trucks, of which the following is specification.

i The invention relates to a power driven truck particularly designed for use in metallurgical plants for the purpose of transporting heavy bars or plates of metal and the like over short distances. In such plants there are formed a certain conventional forms of barsot lead and other metals which are handled with-ditliculty. One forrn of these bars is shown at a in end elevation in dotted lines in Figure 1 and in sideelcvation-at b in Figure 3 which figure also shows the bars provided with end supporting ledges c. These bars 7 will hereinafterbe designated as bullion bars but the, expression is tobe construed as referring to any body which is so heavy that it has to be handled with machinery. f I V y y Onejot the objects of the invention is to provide a simple; form of truck which will be, of i. relatively light openwork structure but which will have the material thereof disposed and arranged to provide a rugged structure capable of raising and carrylng a bank of the bullion bars from'place to place economically and with the least power consumption't'or drivingthe truck and forelevating' the bullion thedistance necessary from the ground. 7 y f Featuring economy in weight and size of structural parts the invention contemplates the designing of-a small electrically driven truck of the trolley type rather than a truck having its own power plant.

Accordingly, another object of the inven tion is. to provide a form of electrically driven trolley truck, which will have di mensions, sufficiently small to permitthe truck to make a complete turn in a standard box car during theoperation of depositing three rows 01 standard sized bullion bars in such a car and at the-same time have a power sufficient to handle the bars at a distance from the source of electric energy;

Incidental to this general object the in vention contemplates the utilization of a flexible trolley connection withaielatiy'ely fixed source of electric supply for the truck POWER-DRIVEN LEAD TRUCK.

Application filed March 10, 1920. Serial No. 364,853.

propelling and bullion elevating mechanism carried by the truck.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in connection with a truck of the class outlined, a single power plant which can be used selectively to drive the truck at relatively high'speed and which can be coupled selectively through suitable speed reducing transmission means to supply the necessary power to elevate the heavy bullion loads.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more the following particular description of one form of mechanismembodying my invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a view in side elevation showi 2, preferred embodiment of the invention operatively connected to an overhead trolley track for supplying electric energy to the truck element of the disclosure;

Figure 2 is a top plan view looking down upon the truck element disclosed in Figure normally hidden structure Figure 3 is a view in front elevation of the 1 and with the parts broken away to show showing in Figure 1;

Figure 4. is an enlarged detailed view in fully set forth in parts hereinafter set side elevation of the box element of the elevator shown in dotted outlines sitions in Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is an end view of the complete elevator box looking at the. same from the right hand side of Figure 4:.

in two p0- In the drawings and referring particularly to the truck element of the disclosure there is shown a powerful three wheel trolley truck which is relatively short compared to trucks now in general use. The truck is so designed as to provide a relatively short turning radius for the truck when it is opcratingin a close space, such as a box car. The frame includes a horizontally disposed chassis 10 whichincludes' a pair of side sills 11, formed of a relatively deep plate connected across the front of the truck to form a bumper plate 12. Each side sill 11 is provided on the outer side thereof with a ver* tically disposed plate 13 constituting a gir der l3 and spaced from the rear portion of truck. This construction provides a chassis whichis relatively wide at its rear port-ion so as to provide ample space for the elevator hereinafter described and is relatively narrow at the front portion which contains the driving mechanism as is usual in conven tional forms of power driven trucks.

The truck is provided with a pair of rela tively large rubber tired driving wheels 15 each of which are journalled in the side frames and are pivota'lly mounted to and between eachside sill and its adjacent girden The side sills are connected in rear of the plate 12' by means of a forward transom 16 and the side frames are connected at opposite ends by means of rear transom members 17 and 18. It will thus be understood that the chassis is rigidly braced horizontally, is supported directly on the axles of the driving wheels and provides a clear space between the wheels to accommodate the elevator 19.

The elevator includes a pair of oppositely disposed side plates 20 connected at their upper portions by a pair of pivoting rods 21 and 22 and connected along their front portions by 'means of an upper channel iron 23 and a lower channel iron 24;,the latter of which is spaced. above the lower edges 25 of the plates 20. Thc. lower edges of each of the plates 20 are. defined by an inwardly extending angle member 26 which constitutes a supporting ledge designed to engage under the extensions 0 on the bullion bar-s toraise the-same as the elevator is lifted. The elevator is reinforced on opposite-sides thereof by suitable gusset plates 27. A pair of lifting links 28 are pivotally connected to the outer ends of each of the rods 21. and 22 and have their lower ends forked and straddling inwardly extending rollers 29 carried by the side sills'outhe inner face thereof. These lifting links are so proportioned that in rocking the elevator from the light line dot and dash position, shown in Figure 1, into the heavy line dash position the bullion bars engaged by the flanges 26 are lifted from theground a distance su'tlicient to clear any of the usual obstacles which may be in the path of travel of the truck. The elevator is locked in its raised position by means of a locking arm 30 which has its rear end pivotally connected to the forward rod 22 and is provided on its underside with a notch 31 whiclris designed to engage the upper edge of a yoke 82 connectin theside sills in advance of the transom 17, The elevator is raised by means of'a draft rod 33pivoted to the cars 34: on the connecting member 23 and provided on its underside with a rack 35'1n mesh with an actuating pmion 36.

For the purpose of bracing the chassis vertically and longitudinally and to provide a support for a trolley hereinafter described, a pair of transversely spaced apart inverted U-shaped yoke members 37 and 38 have their vertically extending upright ends 4L0 fixed respectively at opposite .endsto afrear yoke ll and to the forward yoke 33. Thehorizontally extending channel portions 42 of the yoke members 37 and 38 are connected totruck, convenient to the several power controlling handles constituting part of the.

truck propelling mechanism and convenient to the several power plant controlling clutches, hereinafter described. r

The power plant includes an electric motor 50 hung on a frame 51 positioned between the side sills at the narrow, forwardportion of'the chassis and' is connected through a speed reducing gear train 52 with a gear driving'connection 54c,one'of the gears of which isconnected to the conventional form of power transmission contained within the box 55; The final driving shaft of the trans mission terminates at opposite endsof-the boX in 'pinions 56 which engage in an internal gear 57 formed on each ofthe driving wheels to propel the vehicle as is known in conventional" forms of differential power trans- The gear train 54: leads to a brake drum shaft'58 which leads to a brake" drum '59 of conventional form and has positioned thereon a worm 60 which engages a worm wheel 61 on the clutch shaft 62. This shaft is designed to be connected through'aface clutch 64 with the pinion 36 so that,rwhen the clutch handle 63 is thrown in one direction, a driving connection is provided bemission connections with tractor wheels,

tween the motor and thepinion-86 to draw the rack 35 slowly in a left-to-right position as shown in Figure 1. By this means the motor slowly raises the elevator from the lowermost light dot-andeline-position to the heavy dash position shown in Figure 1. By means of a clutch65 thegear train 54 may be disconnected from'the transmission and in this way all of the power fromthe motor,

may be utilized solely'for the purpose of lifting the elevator with its load, or in the alternative the motor may be allowed to run idle when both the clutches Mend 65 are out. V

In operation and with the elevator empty,

the truck can be driven to thestack of bull1on bars as is usual in thedrlving and control of trolley trucks. The truck can be backed over the tier of bullion bars and by releasing the locking lever '30, the ledges 26 can be caused to move longitudinally under the l1ne of pro ect1on OOITOPPOSltB ends of the bars. When in position under the requithe tier of bullion bars; fThe notch 31 on the locking arm will automatically engage its stop plate whenthe elevator has been sufiiciently raised, after whichgthe operator can throw the clutch manually or byany suitable-connection theclutch can be'thrown out 'of driving engagement automatically by the moving of the locking arm, or other parts carried by the elevator, when the bullion bars haveb'een elevated'the requisite distance off the ground. The clutch 63 can then be thrown into driving engagement and the motor can then be utilized solely to drive the truck to the place where it is desired to deposit the load of bullion bars. For instance, the truck can be driven into a box car, the flexible connection with the trolley permitting the truck to go into the car while maintaining its'connection with the source of electric supply. The clutch 63 may again be actuated a distance suflicient to permit the disengagement of the locking arm, after which the elevator may be allowed to fall gravitationally thus depositing its load of bullion bars. More preferable, the

motor may be reversed thus gradually low,

ering the elevator with its load and vthus eliminating the shock of the falling weight.

The elevator is lowered beyond the point where it deposits the ledges 26 to escape the bars and the truck is then driven either forwardlyor backwardly a distance sufficient to permit the elevator to clear the deposited bars.

It is understood that by means of a device of the character outlined it is possible to handle the heavy bullion bars herein suggested and at the same time to provide a skeleton form of truck which will be relatively light and yet which is sufiiciently strong to stand the rough usage to which a device of this character is placed. The parts are so balanced that the heavy weight of the load is carried almost directly on the heavy driving wheels and at the same time there is provided a distribution of weight such that the steering wheel can be readily actuated by the manual power of the operator. Effort has been made to design the truck without cumbersome parts and carrying out this thought, the motor is of a high speed, highly efficient, relatively low, power type, dependence being made upon the reducing gear connection to attain the necessary power to raise the heavyweight on the elevator. The parts of the chassis are formed largely of conventional angle iron and special or accurately machined parts have been eliminated as far as possible.

While I have shown and described, and have pointed out in the annexed claims, certainnovel features of my invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

:Having thus described my invention, I claim: a i i 1. A truck for carrying heavy bullion and the like comprising a chassis including a pair of longitudinally extending s1de frames,

driving wheels carried by said side frames, a bullion handling elevator positioned within the outlines of the chassis, between the wheels and free to move upwardly to and from the ground and vertically extending links between the elevator and the side sills and means for swinging the elevator on said links to move the same vertically.

2. A truck for carrying heavy bullion and the like comprising a chassis including a pair of longitudinally extending side frames, driving wheels carried by said side frames, a bullion handling elevator positionel within the outlines of the chassis, between the wheels and free to move upwardly to and from the ground and vertically extending links between the elevator and the side sills and means for swinging the elevator on said links to move the same vertically, and means for locking the elevator in raised position.

.3. A truck including a chassis provided with side frames, an elevator including oppositely disposed side plates extending vertically above and below said side frames, bullion engaging means on the lower'part of each plate, and lifting links pivotally connecting each plate with the adjacent side sill, each of said links extending upwardly from its supporting sill.

4. A truck including a chassis provided with. side frames, an elevator including oppositely disposed side plates extending vertically above and below said side frames, bullion engaging means on the lower part of each plate, lifting links pivotally connecting each plate with the adjacent side sill, each of said links extending upwardly from its supporting sill and power means operatively connected to the elevator to swing the same on the links to raise the elevator with its load.

positely disposed side plates extending vertically above and below said side frames,

bullion engagingimeans :on the lower part of each plate, lifting links pivotally con necting each plate with the adjacent side sill, each of said links extending upwardly from its supporting sill, a vdraft bar extending longitudinally of the chassis from the elevator and power means adapted'to the operatively connected to the draft bar to draw on the same and thus swing the elevator longitudinally and upwardly on the links. i

6. A truck including a chassis provided with'side frames, an elevator including oppositely disposed side plates extending vertically above and below said side frames, bullion engaging means'on the lower part of each plate, lifting links pivotally 'con necting each plate with the adjacent side sill, each of said links'extending upwardly from its supporting sill, a draft bar extending longitudinally of the chassis from the elevator, power means adapted to theoperaposition.

tively connectedto' the draft'bar to draw on the same, and thus swing the elevator longitudinally and upwardly on the links and a locking arm between the'elevator and chassis for securing the elevator in raised 7. In a bullion truck the combination of an elevator including a pair ofside frames each provided adjacent its lower edges with an inwardly extendingffiange for engaging the bullion, transverseoconnecting members, upwardly extending lifting links opiv ADOLPHARTHURTHIELE;

at Omaha in'the county ofDOUg this 11 day of 

